I've posted before (20 Aug 2024) on the aging process before accelerating at certain ages, but this article provides additional details. It's from Michael Snyder's lab at Stanford again, and this time, instead of two ages of rapid aging, there are now three ages: 40, 60, 80 years. Paper here. They used a fruit fly model, studying the Smurf phenotype, and found that by modifying certain transcription factors, they could delay aging transitions in females, but not males. What underlies the human transitions is still not clear, and we don't know what causes these changes. Snyder's group suggests that it might be the result of accumulated insults were subject our body to, but also lifestyle changes at these ages, like a decrease in baseline exercise levels, etc. I'm going to exercise more – I've gotten more sedentary as of late.
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Scott Alexander reviews melatonin. It's a unique "drug" for which there has been a lot of studies, but these studies haven't translated into solid usage recommendations. It's all over the place, and this makes me think that just looking at natural levels in body is not something that we can easily manipulate. Taking the drug at 5 pm or 7 pm seems counterintuitive, and in all my experimentation I haven't found that anything I do makes any difference at all. Do I dream more? I can't say. Whether I take melatonin or not, I can't say I notice any difference. Interesting that melatonin has been associated with hair follicle growth stimulation. Paper here and here. But you have to apply it topically, which is kind of messy.
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I've said from the beginning that the Internet should be off-limits to children. It's because of crazy laws like this. Age-verification is not only difficult to implement but also a breach of privacy and is a waste of time. I doubt that young kids are going to Michael Ellsberg's site to get their jollies, anyway. To keep kids away from harmful material, it's going to take something like Black Mirror's Shut Up and Dance episode. Chilling.
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230 new viral genomes have been identified. These are a part of 200 newly-discovered giant viruses in marine environments. I think I was better off not knowing about this.
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Cops use a version of ChatGPT to generate reports that does not audit or keep usage logs. Perfect for doing this for which you want to hide accountability and transparency. Who designed this?
Then there's Grok 4, which if it detects that you are requesting something illegal, will snitch on you and notify the FBI, FDA (huh?) and the media. It turns out that OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs also do this, but far less often. Use local models, baby.
The plastic surgeon who faked COVID-19 vax cards had his case dismissed today. I understand what the surgeon did, and the reason behind his actions. Never before did the government force a nation to take a medicine, especially one as novel and untested as the mRNA vax. But falsifying medical records is wrong. He should have had to pay a nominal fine only. The proper way of resolving this would have been for brave and powerful politicians to stand up for what was right and prevent this from having to happen. Alas, it did not, and Dr. Michael Moore created his own suboptimal solution. This shouldn't happen again. Lots of things associated with COVID-19 shouldn't happen again.
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Oregon is one of the worst states to do business in. In CNBC's study, for the cost of doing business, Oregon ranked 43. For business friendliness, Oregon ranked 47. You seeing this, Tina?
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And now, apartment arson is a thing in downtown Portland. Criminals are caught but are let go. Who wants to invest in this city? Are you seeing this, Keith Wilson?
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Domestic migration from those two counties was negative last year. Multnomah County had 4,700 more people move to other places in the U.S. than moved in. In Washington County, the net loss to domestic migration was nearly 3,100 people.
This isn't something to brag about. I'm not reading about international migrants bringing in millions of dollars to invest locally.
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Corruption. An Oregon lawmaker pushed to fix his road with wildfire recovery money. Politicians doing what politicians do. This is why we need for more wildfire recovery money? Doesn't sound like it's helping to put out any fires.
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Stem cell treatment can help hearing loss. This treatment doesn't depend on the OTOF gene. The treatment is called Rincell-1, and is intended to regrow damaged nerves in the cochlea and allow them to start sending signals to the brain again.
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Some discussion about succession at Apple. Will Tim Cook step down? If so, I hope he's replaced by someone with more ambitious vision of the future. Someone who can bring us interesting technology like Steve Jobs did. Instead of just "thinner with more pixels" and new emojis. Tim sure loved him some emojis, didn't he? And someone who will ditch the pandering to the gay and BLM crowd.
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